The bond should have died the night Kaden rejected her.
Aria had felt it tear—an invisible ripping beneath her ribs, sharp enough to steal her breath and leave her hollowed out. She had welcomed the emptiness afterward, the quiet where his presence used to hum. Silence meant freedom. Silence meant survival.
But silence never came.
It began subtly, like a bruise she didn’t remember earning. A sudden heat in her chest while she sharpened arrows by the river. A pulse of anger so fierce it made her fingers shake—anger that wasn’t hers. She had been calm, almost peaceful, until the emotion slammed into her without warning, wild and directionless, leaving her breath shallow and her jaw clenched.
She dropped the whetstone into the water and staggered back.
“This isn’t me,” she whispered, pre
